A Lingering Wish
by Blue-sama
Summary: All he ever wanted was a friend. [Skull Kid centric oneshot]


Disclaimer: I do not own Legend of Zelda or any of its characters.

**Legend of Zelda:**  
_A Lingering Wish _

* * *

All he had ever wanted was a true friend. All of his previous 'friends' had left him. Deep down, he couldn't blame them. Who could like someone like him? He was deformed, ugly, with little redeeming qualities. He didn't even have a proper face. Long ago, far longer than he could properly remember, he was whole, young. But he had been foolish, disobediant, and was now a shadow of existance. He hurt, feeling empty and longing for things he knew before, but the only living things there were others like him, who were only interesting in playing songs for the passerbys, who soon forgot them. His heart, or what was left of it, just wasn't willing to play with whole people, people who would forget him. He wanted a friend. 

Once, long ago, he had been a forest child, a Kokiri. He had a house of his own, and few friends. He had never spoken to the Great Deku Tree, but knew of it. He usually kept to himself, not being like normal Kokiri. He wanted to be left alone, not dance and play. One day, he was so sick of the Kokiri, he simply left, hiding in the Lost Woods, since he knew he would die if he ventured into Hyrule like he desired. And that was the end. He went in, and heard a strange melody. That was the last he remembered as a Kokiri. The next thing he knew, he was lying on the forest floor as this half-existance. And he hated it.

The first thing he did in his deformed state was find the source of that melody. It spoke to him, and he desired to know how such a wonderful song could be played, and who would be able to play it. And soon, he found the mysterious player. She was a Kokiri like himself, or, what he once was. She was very pretty for a Kokiri, with short green hair and matching eyes. He was completely mesmorized by her, but terrified of approaching her. He was no longer like her, and had no idea how she would react to him. So instead he just watched and admired her from afar, and she, in a sense, became what believed to be his first friend, although she knew nothing of his existance.

Years passed, although he no longer knew time, and soon another 'friend' came to him. He was dressed as a Kokiri, although in a glance he knew this boy was different. At first, he didn't trust him at all, but the boy played a tune, his favorite song, and his distrust melted away. This boy knew the girl, his pretty friend! He could have another friend! This boy turned out to be a very good friend. The boy gave him a mask! A mask! It was a clever way to hide his shame of a face, and he treasured it. Friends were wonderful. He loved his friends.

Eagerly, he waited for his friend to return. Years, he waited. Still, his blonde young friend never returned, and his heart fell. His friends, both of them, had utterly abandoned him. Was he not good enough for him? A man came, eventually, but he was old, far too old to be his friend, and he carried a dangerous-looking weapon. There was no reason to trust him at all.

But, that time seemed to be erased, as if it never happened. So he waited again, waiting for his friends to return, as he had no memory of them abandoning him. But he waited long and hard, and no one came. This time, out of anger and frustration, he destroyed his beloved mask, and set off to find friends of his own, friends that would be with him forever.

---

They weren't friends, really. They were, but he couldn't completely trust them. Wouldn't they just abandon them as the others had? Tatl and Tael, they called themselves, and were small, like the ones that had followed his previous friends. But they were bound to no person, and simply followed him because they were 'friends.' But he really couldn't trust them. For fun, they played tricks of people passing by. Maybe scare them, snatch a thing or two, but eventually give it back to them and let them on their way. It was fun, and much better than sitting on an old log and playing a silly flute all day. It made him feel more alive than he had in years, almost like a real boy. Unfortunately, his tricks also got him into a trouble.

"Maybe we should leave..." Tael, his 'friend,' said nervously, glancing around. His older sister bumped him, and told him off for being such a baby. He paid no attention to the two little fairies. He was busy digging through a pack, full of masks, for something to tease the unconscious man with.

"_You're lonely, aren't you?_" a voice whispered from the distance, causing him to freeze, "_Do you wish... for a friend?_" He turned around slowly. Was the man speaking to him? No... This seemed... less.

"Did you hear that?" he asked his friends. But it was no use. He already knew their answers, and he instead returned to the bag. Maybe it was just his imagination. Everything else may have withered away with time, but that certainly hadn't.

"_A friend... it's very precious... Do you wish for one who will never forsake you?_" the voice said, but this time, he had found the owner of the mysterious voice. It was a mask, staring at him with large, almost cute yellow eyes. Cute to him, anyways. Others would probably have nightmares just looking at it. But to him, especially since the voice belonged to it, it seemed... precious.

"_I'll be your friend, and I'll never let you go,_" it said softly, almost cooing to him like a mother would, "_I'll shield you, protect you from eyes who would judge and despise you. I shall comfort you during lonely nights. I shall be your greatest friend, and we will always be together. Forever."_

"Hey...Skull Kid.." Tatl frowned, "Can we get going? I think he's waking up..." He heard nothing, nothing except his dearest friend, before placing his new friend on his face. They would be together forever, just like the mask had said. It wouldn't forsake him like everyone else would. Forever... He couldn't wait.

---

Forever wasn't very long. His 'dearest friend' had betrayed him, even more so anyone else. He was used, and everyone had abandoned him... again. He was alone... again. But still, after so many failures and disappointments, he still wanted a friend, more than anyrhing. Searching for a friend did nothing for him, so instead he went 'home' to wait. Waiting gained him better friends than searching did, so that's what he would do. He said goodbye to everyone he apparently knew from that strange land, most of it was hazy, and returned to the forest.

Neither of his friends returned, but still he waited. For some reason, the Kokiri started to vanish, but he kept waiting. The forest grew, so large that it even grabbed ahold of the famed Temple of Time, not that he knew anything about it. It shrank, but still he waited. The forest changed dramatically and he hid himself in the familiar parts. But he continued waiting, as the world changed around him, until even the forest seemed different. The light changed, and it was older, darker than the time of the Kokiri. But he would wait until the end of time, if it meant he could have a friend.

---

The world changed, he was now a stranger to it, but he was hidden, still waiting, and it didn't bother him at all. Time held no power over him, and he had no sense of it. The fairies could've been hundreds of years before, or perhaps it was only a few days. It didn't matter. They had passed out of his life, and he was still waiting for someone who wouldn't, or would stay long enough to fufill his desires.

He heard a crunch nearby, but didn't move. He couldn't tell what it was, so there was no reason. Maybe it was a new friend. Maybe it was someone coming to end him and his waiting once and for all? Maybe both?

Slowly and unsurely, a man walked past him, looking around in awe. He was old, like the man from ages past who he didn't trust, but now he held no preference, and only wished for companionship by anyone. He was dressed like the man, too. Who knew, maybe it was the man, looking for something in this forest again. Who was he to judge?

So he stood up on legs that almost felt to have wasted away, and grinned with a smile that had been stitched up with time and disuse. The man turned and pulled out a sword, wary of him. He only smiled more. What a funny person, to be afraid of him. He was nothing like the other man.

"Are you... a... friend?" he asked, his voice cracked and leaning on the edge of existance, "Shall we... play?" He hated the flute, almost as much as he hated this half-existance, but, if it would get him a friend, he would play. The man wouldn't get past without playing. The man would never leave without playing.

---

"Let's play again!" he giggled, jumping away, feeling a spark of something that had died long ago. This wasn't just feeling alive... this was much better. Playing wasn't a good word for what they did. Fighting was more accurate, but he didn't care. His will had returned, and now he felt like he could go on again. Emotionally and mentally, at least. The man had willingly stabbed him, and now he was torn, on the edge of breaking. Dark blue blood spilled from openings, with almost made him giggle. How silly, for him to bleed blue! Or to bleed at all, for that matter!

He stopped, before sitting himself down on a log, almost identical to the one his first friend would play at. He just sat there for a moment, before putting the flute to his cracked and bleeding lips. He wanted to play it. He wanted to play that wonderful melody from his memories. He only managed a few notes, very wrong, before his beloved puppets appeared. He couldn't remember when they appeared or why, but they were almost like friends. But once they came, he froze, his sight fixed upon one of them. No...it was impossible!

His lovely Kokiri friend, the pretty girl, was standing in front of him, smiling through her pretty green eyes. Feelings and emotions that had died after the adventures with the mask and fairies bubbled up to the surface, and his voice caught in his throat. No... it was impossible. Did his... friend really come back? He soon found himself giggling, just as his vision started to fade. He was dying, he knew it, but now he didn't mind. He didn't mind if it was the most painful thing ever, which it wasn't. His friend, his very first friend, hadn't abandoned him. He grinned, his lips cracking even more, before life escaped him, leaving only the remains of a poor soul, surrounded only by the puppets he had once made to free him of his lonliness.

_There's nothing more precious than a true and loyal friend._

* * *

A/N: This was just a one-shot, and just written because my brain is coming up with everything else ever so slowly. It's weird, yes I know. It's most likely inaccurate, yes I know. But, I wrote it anyways, and you can't change that. Besides, the skulkid in Twilight Princess _could _be the same one from Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask. Right? Riiight? Yeah, I'll stop now. Well, even though it's really weird, I kind of like it. So, yeah. Anyone else want to share their opinion? (And is it really skulkid? I always thought it was Skull Kid...Oh well.) Ugh, I think I got all the spelling errors...  



End file.
